The Odd Truth, Jan. 14, 2003

(CBS)  The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum. A new collection of stories is published each weekday. On weekends, you can read a week's worth of The Odd Truth.

A Dog For The Ages

AMMAN, Jordan - A story of forbidden love in Jordan has a bittersweet ending.

A man and woman who were involved in a secret relationship used a three-year-old German shepherd dog named Big Joe to carry their love letters.

They would put their letters in a cloth pouch strapped to the dog's back.

But on Saturday, the woman's brother found one of the letters. During the shouting match that followed, the dog attacked him -- and he killed the dog by hitting him on the head with a rock.

The final letter delivered by Big Joe was a marriage proposal.

A friend of the couple says the woman's father has agreed to let them marry.

A neighbor tells The Associated Press the man and woman promise to "never forget" the pet who was killed keeping their love alive.

Smooth Move, Ex-Lax

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Florida officials say an accused armed robber flushed his file down the toilet.

It happened last week at the St. Lucie County Jail as Eric Brown, 38, was being booked on an outstanding armed robbery charge and his paperwork turned up missing.

Sheriff's deputies found him, minutes later, shoving documents down a holding cell toilet, officials said.

Deputies believe Brown took the folder from the jail intake room, his new arrest affidavit states.

Deputies who contacted the arresting officer to find out what was in the files then learned this wasn't the first time some of Brown's paperwork had disappeared.

Brown was arrested in December after being accused of robbing a daycare worker at gunpoint — but the robbery charge never showed up in the jail computer system. He later posted bond on a trespassing charge and walked out of jail.

Business Or Pleasure?

STOCKHOLM - You can't deflate your taxes by inflating your chest, a Swedish stripper learned after a three-year legal battle to deduct the cost of her breast implants from her income taxes.

An appeals court in Stockholm sided with the latter and ruled the 25-year-old woman's 26,000 kronor (US $3,000) breast enhancement surgery could not be deducted from her 1998 income taxes.

The woman, whose name was not released, claimed the "size and shape" of her breasts were crucial to her income as a stripper. She listed the cost of the surgery as a business expense and sued the tax authorities when they rejected her deduction.

In its Jan. 9 ruling, the administrative court of appeal in the Swedish capital upheld the decision of a lower court, saying the surgery wasn't commercial, but private.

The woman's defense lawyer, Christer Transby, said Tuesday that the courts had treated his client unfairly because of her profession. He said other performers, including opera singers and dancers, were permitted deductions for different types of cosmetic surgery, although the benefits were more private than commercial.

"She derives absolutely no pleasure from (the surgery) privately," he said. "It's of 100 percent commercial interest."

Rooster Fashion Fatality

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines - A rooster about to be set loose for a bout in a crowded cockfighting arena attacked its handler with the razor-sharp steel spikes strapped to its legs, killing the stunned man, police said Tuesday.

The gaffs hit the man's thigh and groin as the bird made one rapid shuffle, causing him to bleed profusely Sunday before a large crowd of shocked spectators, police investigator Johnny Muhajil said.

The man died while being brought to a hospital in Zamboanga, a bustling port city about 530 miles south of Manila, he said.

Cockfighting is an extremely popular gambling sports in the Philippines, especially in rural areas.

I Feel Much Safer, Don't You?

TAMPA, Fla. - A section of the Tampa airport was evacuated Monday after baggage screeners spotted a "very, very suspicious" object on an X-ray monitor. It turned out to be a mousetrap inside a coffee can.

The ticketing area was evacuated for about 45 minutes and several flights were delayed briefly. A bomb squad used a robot to remove the object from the bag.

"When you looked at the monitor, it had all these wires and looked very, very suspicious," said Chris Rhatigan, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.

Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said airport police and TSA officials were talking with the bag's owner. No immediate charges were filed.

170-Year-Old Fornication Law Repealed

ATLANTA - The Georgia Supreme Court struck down a 170-year-old law that made it a crime for unmarried people to have sex.

The ruling Monday came in the case of a 16-year-old boy discovered having sex with his girlfriend in the bedroom of her home. The young woman's mother made the discovery.

Chief Justice Norman Fletcher wrote that nothing in the ruling should be read to address parents' rights "to regulate what occurs inside their home, including who enters their house and under what circumstances."

Fornication laws remain on the books in about 10 states and the District of Columbia. Courts have struck down such statutes in Florida, Virginia and New Jersey.

Following his conviction, Jesse McClure, now 17, was ordered to pay a fine and write an essay explaining why he should not have had sex. He wrote that it wasn't the court's business.

"Invading personal privacy just isn't right," McClure said Monday. "It now goes that way for everybody."

In 1998, the state Supreme Court overturned an anti-sodomy law, ruling it violated the Georgia Constitution's guarantee of a right to privacy.

School Pays Kids To Attend

STOCKHOLM - How do you get kids to stay in school? Pay 'em. At least that's the solution at one high school in southwestern Sweden. The principal of the Falkenberg High School of Design says kids who show up on time, every day will get about $60 a month. If a student is sick, or late for class, money will be deducted from the monthly amount. The principal says many of the kids had been missing class because of after-school jobs. He adds paying kids to go school is an investment in their future.